Gulf War Syndrome - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

A variety of signs and symptoms have been associated with GWS:

Excess prevalence of general symptoms*
Symptom U.S. UK Australia Denmark
Fatigue 23% 23% 10% 16%
Headache 17% 18% 7% 13%
Memory problems 32% 28% 12% 23%
Muscle/joint pain 18% 17% 5% 2% (<2%)
Diarrhea 16% 9% 13%
Dyspepsia/indigestion 12% 5% 9%
Neurological problems 16% 8% 12%
Terminal tumors 33% 9% 11%
Excess prevalence of recognized medical conditions
Condition U.S. UK Canada Australia
Skin conditions 20 !20–21% 21% 04 !4–7% 4%
Arthritis/joint problems 06 !6–11% 10% 0 !(-1)–3% 2%
Gastro-intestinal (GI) problems 15 !15% 05 !5–7% 1%
Respiratory problem 04 !4–7% 2% 02 !2–5% 1%
Chronic fatigue syndrome 01 !1–4% 3% 0%
Post-traumatic stress disorder 02 !2–6% 9% 06 !6% 3%
Chronic multi-symptom illness 13 !13–25% 26%

Birth defects have been suggested as a consequence of Gulf War deployment. However, a 2006 review of several studies of international coalition veterans' children found no strong or consistent evidence of an increase in birth defects, finding a modest increase in birth rate defects that was within the range of the general population, in addition to being unable to exclude recall bias as an explanation for the results.

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